Round vs Square bench dogs

Hi everyone.. I'm building a bench. The base is done. The cabinet that
fits in the base is done and now its time to get serious on the top. I've
jointed and planed 16 stringers to glue together, but what about those bench
dog holes.. Round, square or both? The bench will have a full width
Veritas twin screw for tail vice and an 18" quick release for the face or
shoulder vise. Seeking your advice.. thanks..

I went with round, for a couple of reasons:
A round hole is easier to make. Square holes are often made by
cutting dados before glue up, and round ones don't have to be aligned
with a joint.
A double row of dog holes can more easily capture round or odd-
shaped objects. In this case, the face of the dog may best be at an
odd angle to the table edge.
These may be minor considerations for some, and some may have
overriding reasons to decide the other way. There are some pictures
here:
http://bullfire.net/Bench/WP_Bench.html

Thanks, Ed. Nice job on the bench! Will be glad when I'm finished. Points
well taken on using round bench dog holes. Round holes also allow for a
variety of hold downs and other benchtop hardware that are designed for
round holes. I don't really understand it. I have two books on
workbenches. Christopher Schwartz's new book and the other by Lon
Schleining. Both preferred square holes in their own benches. Schleining
also has two additional rows of round holes running perpendicular across the
width of the bench near his face vise. He said he did that because he has a
sharpening board and others, maybe a shooting board, designed with pegs to
fit in round bench dog holes. There is a some discussion about using wooden
bench dogs to prevent potentially damaging a plane iron, but other than that
really all they say is they prefer them.. I've actually never used a square
bench dog. I suppose its handy to be able push them down and hide them in
the notched hole in the bench and push them up when needed. Looks like you
could do that though with the bench dogs you made, too. Thanks for
sharing.. - Jim
wrote:

I went with round, for a couple of reasons:
A round hole is easier to make. Square holes are often made by
cutting dados before glue up, and round ones don't have to be aligned
with a joint.
A double row of dog holes can more easily capture round or odd-
shaped objects. In this case, the face of the dog may best be at an
odd angle to the table edge.
These may be minor considerations for some, and some may have
overriding reasons to decide the other way. There are some pictures
here:
http://bullfire.net/Bench/WP_Bench.html

The ability to grab work pieces that aren't square without using shims etc.
seems like a valuable one to me, I'm glad my bench has round dog holes. I'd
add that being able to use the many commercially-available clamps,
hold-downs etc. made for 3/4" holes is handy.

Admittedly, this is a religious argument.
My bench has both. Square- lined up with the tail vise, and round ones in
the field for use with holdfasts.
I seldom use the round ones. The argument about holding odd shapes is a red
herring. When I have to hold something with oddly shaped ends, I whip up an
adapter on the bandsaw in about 60 seconds.
Imagine that you want to hand-plane the face of a piece that has one
straight edge and a shallow arc for the other side (pointy ends). With round
dogs or square, will have to make an adapter to "hold" the pointy ends
between dogs to prevent them from being mashed.
Unless weird 3-point holding scenarios are the rule, rather than the
exception, in your method of work, square holes are not a significant a
limitation. You can accomplish awful lot with a couple wedges and a clamp.
Square wooden dogs are easy to make and can offer a larger surface area for
holding your workpiece (mine are 1" wide).
- my 2 cents.
Steve

Jim, I used round holes because I could drill round holes myself. I
did a row out from each vise, with a 6" spacing. In the future, I may
decide to go to 3 inch spacing.
The real advantage I see is over time, the holes get a tad tight with
a glue smear or whatever. When I get dedicated, I can ream them out
with the same 3/4 inch bit I used to make them. I use my bench for
wood shaping, and also glue-ups, finishing, and whatever else is
called for. Bullet reloading is also done there! So over time, the
holes become a little plugged with stuff or moisture. I think it
would be harder to clean out square holes.
Hope this helps.....

I used round in mine and will probably continue to do so.
Last year though, I came across an archive of an online chat with
Frank Klausz and a woodworking club, and he was asked the same
question. He was very emphatic about square because an oddly shaped
piece can jump out of the clamp. He said something like "My father
didn't spend all that time with a chisel carving out square holes in
the benchtops for the fun of it! I hope I don't get any more questions
about square vs round!" He was not exactly open to debate about that
issue.
But so far, round has worked fine for me and my current bench. :-)

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